A toy tricycle is well known in the art, however these known tricycles suffer from a number of disadvantages that can have an effect on the assembly, durability, performance and ease of use of the toy tricycle.
The known toy tricycles of the type with a large front wheel and two smaller back wheels are molded from plastic parts and assembled by the end user, or typically the parent of the end user. As with many children's toys, including toy tricycles, assembly can be a difficult or overly complicated. Often, there are numerous small parts that can be lost during assembly or unpacking. Further, during manufacture, each part must be properly accounted for so that the end user can fully assemble the toy. Because there may be a number of small parts associated with the toy, each part may need a separate manufacturing line or machine to produce the required parts. Further, in some cases, not all of the parts associated with a given toy will be manufactured at the same site, and may be outsourced to different manufacturers. This leads to added sourcing complexities and packaging issues.
For example, prior art toy tricycles may use blow molded parts to make up the large portions of the toy, and then use injection molding machines to create the smaller parts. This requires multiple molds and multiple machines to produce all the parts necessary to create a working and user assembled toy. In some cases, the manufacturing plant that does the blow molding may not also handle injection molding, and typically neither plant will manufacture the metal parts for the tricycle. This creates supply chain issues that require coordination from multiple suppliers since each part must be accounted for during packaging. Further, some of the injection molded parts may be intended to be the same color as the blow molded parts, however the properties and manufacturing techniques associated with the two parts are different, which results in the possibility of differing colors or differing shades of colors, which can have an impact on the aesthetic quality of the end product. The elimination of one supplier or even one part from the supply chain can greatly reduce manufacturing and related supply chain costs, however prior art tricycles have not successfully reduced the need for small parts.
In addition to a complicated scenario associated with manufacturing and sourcing all the parts for the toy, the prior art toy cycles can be counter-intuitive or difficult to assemble. Furthermore, small parts can be easily lost. Even though directions and warnings are conspicuously noted on the assembly instructions of most toys, individuals assembling the toy may disregard the instructions and warnings. This creates a problem of incorrect assembly that can result in an unsafe assembly or less than optimal performance of the end product, which in turn reduces consumer satisfaction with the product. The difficulty with many prior art toy tricycles is that there is more than one way to assemble the toy if not reading and following the directions, but in reality only one is correct and according to the design of the toy.
Prior art toy cycles also may not have sufficient durability to stand up to the repeated use over time. Improved durability reduces the likelihood of failure of the toy cycle due to abuse. As one example, the interface of the fork and the body of is subject to wear associated with turning the handlebar and therefore the fork. This wear is exacerbated by the weight of the rider, and eventually there will be play or wobble associated with the interface between body and fork. This wobble can cause increased bending stress on the shaft of the fork, which in turn can cause failure or buckling of the shaft wall in a dangerous manner.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a toy cycle having improved wear characteristics.
Another object is to provide a toy cycle having an improved assembly along with modified parts of that toy cycle that aid in the improved assembly that results in a more durable and less complicated toy cycle.
Another object is to provide a toy cycle an improved design that reduces the likelihood of incorrect assembly.
Yet another object of the present invention to reduce the total number of separate parts needed to create a toy cycle.
A further object of the present invention is to manufacture more of the plastic parts through blow molding.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a toy cycle having improved strength and durability.